Some tips on the helitack I put on our local forum in scotland at:-
David
[
www.sailrepair.co.uk]
The helitack is a truly wonderful move. Its enjoyable and useful. Its mentally and physically challenging. It has regular and clew first elements to it. It also involves backwinded and frontwinded (ie normal) sailing.
In summary, its a true “Yin and yang†manoever with lashings of feng shui thrown in.
Once dialled, it’s the “utility†tack of choice in non-planing conditions – from a zephyr-light wind up to and including only just off the plane in chop or waves.
Additionally it forces you into a huge amount of body, board, rig, wind and water awareness that carries its DNA into just about any other windsurfing move (forward loop excluded!)
I wont go into all the mechanics of it all as there’s a ton of teaching stuff out there. For me, the best learning aids were a peter hart article in windsurf C2006 entitled “whirlybirdingâ€, the jem hall video on boardseeker and good old triktionary. I’m sure youtube will have some good stuff also.
The key thing is your determination to want to achieve it.
Here then are some of my thoughts on the helitack:-
nb it might not all make sense until you have studied some proper training material and can start to visualise the whole move
-Get yourself “stacked†over the board….(snowboarding/skateboarding term for being balanced front to back and side to side), relaxed, and poised like a crouching tiger ready for action.
-Occupy that middle bit of the board at all times and make the rig get out of your way during the fancy bits.
-As you’re moving the front foot forward of the mast foot, use that unweighted moment to slew the board into, and through, the wind.
-Get to love that slicing action as you effortlessly move the rig into the wind. Then play it like a trout on a fishing line using tiny dabs of backwinded power to keep the nose moving round.
-Turn the board alot further through the wind than you think you need to before helicoptering the rig. As a guide, the nose of the board should be in the back of the boards old wake before going for it.
-Change your feet now! Keeping stacked, just facing the other way.
-When you do push the clew through the wind, there is a big jolt of power. The last 2 points prepare you for this…..the body is positioned to absorb the impetus and drive the energy into the board and the board can move forwards to reduce the pressure and start to make way in the opposite direction. If you havent got the board far enough round, the sail pressure acts on the side of the board which makes like a giant sea-anchor and you get pulled forwards. If the board is too far round, it suddenly becomes an upwind 360…how cool is that? Just sail away in the same direction, pretending you meant it…
-Let the power in the rig dictate when the final rig flip happens. If a gust has arrived, do it early. If its manageable, sail off clew first before composing yourself (ie re-stacking) and flipping.
I even made a working model of a windsurfer out of sons “k’nex†and played with it endlessly in the bath (!) to figure out what was going on. This really, really helped.
A smallish sail, rigged flattish and board you’re comfortable on is the best learning combo. The bigger the board, the slower the turn is so prepare to be ultra patient during the backwinded, board steering phase.
The helitack is one of the best candidates for dry-land simulation. Only needs the merest discernible breeze to give it a really authentic feel.
You can also ask a friend to film You during jibing and compare to some schooling videos. Videocoaching is one of the most underrestimated methods of teaching. 3 years ago I managed to teach to windsurf an italian guy who knew like 10 words in english! Keep surfin dude!